Difference between revisions of "Genesis"

Revision as of 04:19, March 17, 2007

For the rock band Genesis, please see Genesis (band).

Genesis

Genesis the book of beginnings, and the first book of the Jewish Torah as well as the Bible, recounts the beginning of all life on earth and the social and cultural formations of mankind. It stands as the introduction of the entire body of the Bible, of the creation of the nation of Israel, and of the earliest promises of the coming redeemer.

Name

The Hebrews had called the First Book of Moses by the name of bereisheet or be'reshith, meaning "in the begining", based on the three words which start Genesis. The Septuagint, the ancient Greek-language version of the Old Testament, rendered this title under the name he biblos geneseos, from which came the Greek word genesis, meaning "origin". (Unger, pg. 396)

Overview

The book is essentially divided into two parts: the early, primeval history of man from the Creation to the fall of the Tower of Babel, and the Patriarchal History of Israel from Abraham and his son Issac, grandson Jacob, and Jacob's sons, primarily Joseph.

Primordial history

In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth. This is one of the most famous statments in the Bible, and it opens up Genesis to a view of the world as being formless and void, just before God acted out His creation. Genesis 1:1 through 2:25 involved bringing forth the waters, the stars, the sun and moon, plants, fish, fowl, and the animals upon the earth, and ends with his creation of Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman.

The fall of mankind into sin began when Satan questioned one of God's commands, namely not to eat of the tree of life, and succeeded in talking Eve into eating the fruit, followed by Adam. The result of disobeying this command resulted in the driving away of Adam and Eve from the garden, to live a life of subsistence farming and painful childbearing. Genesis 3:15 is also cited as being the first reference to the coming Messiah.

Multiple Authors Theory

Tradition holds that this and the first five books of the Bible were written by Moses. Some biblical scholars, however, have identified five separate authors of these books^[1]^[2]. Each of these authors have been named with a letter.

J who uses JHWH as God's name.
E who uses Elohim as God's name.
D who wrote Deuteronomy
P who wrote an alternate history in a priestly style
R who joined the writings of J, E, D and P to form a single work.

Under this hypothesis, looking at the Creation story

Genesis 1:1 through 2:3 were written by P.
Genesis 2:4 was written by R
Genesis 2:5 through 4:26 were written by J.

Furthermore, there are also a number of doubling of stories and inconsistencies between the doubles. An example of such a doubling can be found in Genesis 7:15 where God instructs Noah to collect two of each species of animal and at Genesis 7:2-3, God instructs Noah to bring seven pairs of clean animals and one pair of unclean animals. Again Genesis 7:4 describes the flood as rain only while Genesis 7:11 describes the flood as rain and water coming from the earth.

[1] Who Wrote The Pentateuch, The Five Books of Moses?

[2] Introduction to Genesis & the Pentateuch

[1]

[2]

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
 :''For the rock band Genesis, please see [[Genesis (band)]].''
 [[Image:Genesis1.jpg|thumb|300px|right|Genesis]]
-Genesis is the first book of the Bible that contains the history of the nation of Israel from Creation to Joseph's death.  Some of the stories it contains are Cain and Able Noah's Ark, Abraham and Isaac, and Joseph and Jacob.
+'''Genesis''' the book of beginnings, and the first book of the Jewish [[Torah]] as well as the [[Bible]], recounts the beginning of all life on [[earth]] and the social and cultural formations of mankind.  It stands as the introduction of the entire body of the Bible, of the creation of the nation of Israel, and of the earliest promises of the coming redeemer.
+==Name==
+The [[Hebrews]] had called the First Book of Moses by the name of ''bereisheet'' or ''be'reshith'', meaning "in the begining", based on the three words which start Genesis.  The [[Septuagint]], the ancient Greek-language version of the Old Testament, rendered this title under the name ''he biblos geneseos'', from which came the Greek word ''genesis'', meaning "origin".  (Unger, pg. 396)
+==Overview==
+The book is essentially divided into two parts: the early, primeval history of man from the [[Creation]] to the fall of the [[Tower of Babel]], and the [[Patriarchal History of Israel]] from [[Abraham]] and his son [[Issac]], grandson [[Jacob]], and Jacob's sons, primarily [[Joseph]].
+===Primordial history===
+''In the beginning, God created the heavens and earth''.  This is one of the most famous statments in the Bible, and it opens up Genesis to a view of the world as being formless and void, just before God acted out His creation.  Genesis 1:1 through 2:25 involved bringing forth the waters, the stars, the sun and moon, plants, fish, fowl, and the animals upon the earth, and ends with his creation of Adam, the first man, and Eve, the first woman.
+The fall of mankind into sin began when Satan questioned one of God's commands, namely not to eat of the tree of life, and succeeded in talking Eve into eating the fruit, followed by Adam.  The result of disobeying this command resulted in the driving away of Adam and Eve from the garden, to live a life of subsistence farming and painful childbearing.  Genesis 3:15 is also cited as being the first reference to the coming [[Messiah]].
 == Multiple Authors Theory ==
@@ Line 18: / Line 30: @@
 Furthermore, there are also a number of doubling of stories and inconsistencies between the doubles.  An example of such a doubling can be found in Genesis 7:15 where God instructs Noah to collect two of each species of animal and at Genesis 7:2-3, God instructs Noah to bring seven pairs of clean animals and one pair of unclean animals.  Again Genesis 7:4 describes the flood as rain only while Genesis 7:11 describes the flood as rain and water coming from the earth.
-== Importance to Creation Science ==
-Creationists use the first part of Genesis as evidence of the creation of the Earth in seven days. This book is fundemental to the entire study of Creation Science.
-'''Chapter 1'''
-"'''1:1''' In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
-'''1:2''' And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.
-'''1:3''' And God said, Let there be light: and there was light. '''1:4''' And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness. '''1:5''' And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.
-'''1:6''' And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. '''1:7''' And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so. '''1:8''' And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.
-'''1:9''' And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. '''1:10''' And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.
-'''1:11''' And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. '''1:12''' And the earth brought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yielding fruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good. '''1:13''' And the evening and the morning were the third day.
-'''1:14''' And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: '''1:15''' And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. '''1:16''' And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. '''1:17''' And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, '''1:18''' And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good. '''1:19''' And the evening and the morning were the fourth day.
-'''1:20''' And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. '''1:21''' And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. '''1:22''' And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. '''1:23''' And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.
-'''1:24''' And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. '''1:25''' And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
-'''1:26''' And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
-:'''1:27''' So God created man in his own image,
-:in the image of God created he him;
-:male and female created he them.
-'''1:28''' And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
-'''1:29''' And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing
-seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it
-shall be for meat. '''1:30''' And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air,and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.
-'''1:31''' And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
-'''Chapter 2'''
-'''2:1''' Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.
-'''2:2''' And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. '''2:3''' And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.
-'''2:4''' These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, '''2:5''' And every plant of the field before it was in the earth, and every herb of the field before it grew: for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. '''2:6''' But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. '''2:7''' And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
-'''2:8''' And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed. '''2:9''' And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil."<ref>'''(Genesis 1:1-31 and 2:1-9, KJV)'''</ref>
-==References==
-<references/>

Difference between revisions of "Genesis"

Revision as of 04:19, March 17, 2007

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Name

Overview

Primordial history

Multiple Authors Theory

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